Overheard

Actually, I've never attended any church.

Bill Watterson, creator
Calvin & Hobbes comic
Deseret News, Nov. 20, 2005

At a certain point, religious friction just can't go any further. Because the Christian says, 'It is so because it is in the Bible,' and the Muslim says, 'Well, no, it is so because it says so in the Quran.' And the Jew says, 'No, it is so because it says so in the Old Testament.' And then they just wait until someone shoots.

Comedian Jon Stewart
The Daily Orange-Pulp [Rochester, N.Y.]
Oct. 10, 2005

What's missing in Los Angeles, as in many other U.S. dioceses, is stark accountability for the hierarchy, the bishops who often looked the other way or covered up these crimes.

Holding church officials responsible should be as much a part of justice in settling these cases as atoning to the victims, defrocking priests or making multinational-dollar settlements.

The Los Angeles revelations are but one more reason why certifiably negligent bishops should be losing their jobs.

Chicago Tribune editorial
Oct. 16, 2005

Every religious tradition has in fact denigrated women and seen them as second-class citizens in the past. Little wonder then that violence has been committed against them when you can back it up with religious justification.

Dr. Barry Morgan
Archbishop of Wales
Sermon apology
BBC News, Nov. 25, 2005

There are billions of galaxies, billions and billions of stars, and probably billions and billions of habitable planets. If there's a god, I think he'd be worried about all the other planets and not be an earth-centered deity as most religions suggest. So I'll take no position on whether there's a god or not--or gods.

Astronaut William A. Anders
Apollo 8 crew
Chicago Tribune, Oct. 27, 2005

By definition, holy wars are millennial in scope. The Age of Reason passed them by. They are rooted in beliefs that, while old, are not ancient, given the age and tableau of Planet Earth. All religions are mythological, contradictory and, at the same time, generally and liberally taking swipes at one another.

Michael Willard, CEO
The Willard Group Companies
The Charleston Gazette, Aug. 5, 2005

It's just like the mob. The church [polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints] is able to keep iron-fisted control even though the top leaders are fugitives.
Investigator Gary Engels
Re: Child abuse
The New York Times, Oct. 25, 2005